james debate
james debate

Saturday 17 April 2010

Here's one for those of you who like a night at the club and a bit of Dance/Rap. Everyone loves a good mashup. In 2004 Dangermouse turned mashups into an art form with Beatles/JayZ mashup, the now infamous Grey Album. Girltalk then perfected the genre by producing Feed the Animals, an album which was somehow greater than the sum of its (literal) parts. But now we have a new face in the mix, the White Panda, and they're pretty awesome.

the white panda

The White Panda is a duo made up of Tom Evans and Dan Griffith, based out of Chicago and Los Angeles. They first came to my attention last fall when their tracks started making the rounds on the interwebs, and by the end of last year they released their first mashup mixtape, Versus, for download on their website.

The quality is undeniable and range of musical styles being mixed impressive, but Versus is ultimately more of a sampler of their library, an hour of fluidly mixed bit size snippets from their full length songs which normally float around the 3-4 minute mark.

It's more than enough to get an idea of what they're about though. Opening with the Lil Jon quote ‘we gon’ all get real drunk tonight' sets the tone for what is a relentless party starter, and a high energy debut that showcases the talents of the newcomers.

As is par for the course when it comes to this genre, some tracks hit and some miss. Pop Lock n Grizzly is a real highlight, while What You Know About Little Secrets is the track that first started building the hype for them, and Stuntin Like My Energy kicks ass once you skip past the crappy intro from Keri Hilson (in this respect the bite size version from versus is actually better since it skips this).

But of course we've seen in the past that it takes time and experience to perfect the art. Compare Girltalk's recent work to his early albums and wonder what the White Panda might sound like in the future. We won't have to wait long to find out either, with a follow up album due summer 2010.


Must Listen:
Pop Lock n Grizzly


Bizarre Flirt


What You Know About Little Secrets


Stuntin' Like My Energy


Throw Some Tik on that Tok

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